Parents of 10-Year-Old Who Lost Her Life to Asthma Speak Out in Warning

Olivia Hope Dennis, an active girl who loved gymnastics, was 10 years old when her mom found her on all fours on her bed, her breathing labored, before she passed out in her father's arms and died from a fatal asthma attack. In the four years since her devastating death, her parents, Lee and Lisa, have spoken out on numerous occasions to ensure that other parents never have to go through the same tragedy.

In a 2015 video posted to the Media Trust UK YouTube page, Lisa and Lee describe their daughter as a mischievous little girl who was always on the go, who never sat still. On the morning of Red Nose Day in the UK in March 2013, Lisa remembers talking to her younger son, Max, on their walk away from school, while Olivia lagged behind a bit. She had told her mom she had a tough day, that she'd been coughing, so her mom made her something to eat at home and her dad suggested she go to bed since she seemed so tired. That's when Lisa recalls finding Olivia shortly after, struggling to breathe on her bed before her lips turned blue and she passed out.

Although Olivia had an inhaler because of an allergy, the word "asthma" was never once mentioned to her family. Lisa told the BBC: "I'll never forget being at the hospital and the consultant asking us if Olivia was asthmatic. I said, 'No, but she has an inhaler.' He said to us there and then, 'Your daughter is asthmatic.'"

With the number of deaths related to life-threatening asthma attacks rising fairly steadily in the UK since 2010 — and in the US, where approximately nine people die from the condition every day — both Lisa and Lee continue to share their experience despite the overwhelming grief to save other children who may be undiagnosed like Olivia. Lisa's hope is that doctors and families will pay closer attention to ensuring a diagnosis is made when necessary and that information on warning signs and what to do when someone is having an asthma attack could be put on inhalers and on posters in doctors' offices.

"Everyone needs to look at their children — especially anyone with an inhaler — because asthma is a killer," Lisa said. "And I think doctors need to recognize that and make families aware because this is serious, desperately serious."